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ErikPeter Walker
United States
New Haven
Connecticut
Uplifting
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Hello again, and welcome to my development log. I've been providing commentary about creating a homebrew Race for the Galaxy expansion.
In the previous installment, I touched on the theme and then started explaining Agendas, which are sort of like two goals mashed together, and how players would earn tokens from the limited Agenda pool when they placed an appropriate card.
Immediately I had to tackle the question: "What do the tokens do?" At first I considered just having them be worth VP, which would be closely related to Goals with a small amount of late-game strategic potential; Goals add 22 VP (plus ties), and so if I planned on 3 Agendas worth 10 VP each (at that time I thought agendas would have 5 tokens each, worth 2 VP), it'd add about the same amount of opportunity to each game. I realized that with only 5 tokens, a player would be very hard pressed to have and hold a majority of them. Currently I think 7 should be enough for each pool, but playtesting could prove otherwise.
However, rehashing Goals wasn't what I set out to do. The agendas were already infused with a bit of theme, and I felt that creating some new mechanics around the tokens would be a good way to set the system apart and bring something unique to the game. I decided that each agenda would have its own resource, like subtle forms of Prestige. The two resources are Destiny, representing some driving force in the destiny of the galaxy, and Favor, influence with a shadowy, galaxy-spanning organization.
Like Goals, one Agenda of each type is randomly chosen during setup. If it turns out two Agendas at a time doesn't add enough possibility, I might add a third Agenda type related to Industry.
I figured Destiny and Favor would be spent to gain a small benefit. After tossing around ideas about whether to make the benefits specific to each Agenda or more general, I came to the simple decision that Destiny could be spent to reduce settle costs, one-for-one, and Favor spent to gain +1 Military. (Again, a third Agenda could potentially lower development costs). Essentially, spending tokens would be like using mini-Prestige actions.
I wasn't sure I liked how much buying power that would offer early in the game (place an Agenda-matching world for a discount, gaining a token to be used on the next Settle, etc.); there needed to be a reason to hold onto the tokens. Taking a cue from the Prestige leader mechanic, I decided that whenever a player with the majority share of an agenda earns an unavailable token, he draws a card instead of forcing the pool to be restocked.
In addition, whenever a player spends a token, they must spend ALL of them. This creates the interesting dilemma of "Do I hold on to my tokens and score some cards, or do I use them to place this nice world right now?"
That's pretty much the Agenda mechanics as they currently stand. I think they are complex enough to replace Goals and Prestige, though they may not change the game as much as the latter did, which is fine. Only more play-testing will show whether they're any fun and not completely broken.
The Agendas I've designed so far, and a thematic explanation for each one, are listed below:
Galactic Vigilance (Destiny): Destiny tokens are earned for placing Alien cards and cards providing positive Military.
The Alien Nemesis still lurks somewhere outside the galaxy, and a hidden patron will reward civilizations that seek out clues to the Alien disappearance and maintain a powerful defensive force.
Uplift Prophecy (Destiny): Destiny is earned for placing Uplift worlds with the chromosome symbol and +Explore ("draw more") powers.
A secretive Uplift cult believes that by finding and uniting the Uplift races, they will unlock the Uplift Code and discover hidden truths about the universe.
Rebel Unification (Favor): Gain Favor when placing Rebel worlds and cards that consume goods for VP (and not other consume powers.)
Across the galaxy, countless worlds struggle against cruel and oppressive leaders. With the right civil and economic guidance, these war-torn worlds could be brought out of their constant state of rebellion.
Industrial Complex (Favor): Gain Favor when placing Rare Elements (brown) worlds and any card with a Produce (phase V) power (including production worlds).
Megacorporations control most of the galactic wealth; aligning with their interests (at the expense of others) will likely be quite profitable.
Next time I'll share my take on some other official expansion mechanics (Improved Logistics? Takeovers?) and whether you will see them in mine. Then I'll share some of my new powers and consider how they might affect the overall gameplay.
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